The Top 5% Method® with Katheline Jean-Pierre

Episode: "AI Won't Take Your Job. But Invisibility Will." Listen to Shantel's Career Success Story.
Date: October 21, 2025
Guest: Chantelle Love, Executive at Pearson & Author of "Promote Your Damn Self"

Overview

This episode delves into why invisibility, not AI, is the real threat to career advancement and how personal branding, proactive self-promotion, and strategic visibility can propel professionals—especially women and underrepresented groups—into the top echelons of their fields. Katheline Jean-Pierre welcomes Chantelle Love to discuss hard-earned wisdom on cultivating impactful visibility, actionable steps for professional growth, lessons from layoffs, and the entrepreneurial journey of turning expertise into a brand asset. The conversation mixes personal narrative, practical frameworks, and empowering advice for building a resilient and recognizable career identity.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Chantelle’s Background and Motivation

• Career Journey:
  • 20 years in sales, managed over $1 billion in business—“That’s B as in bold, beautiful, and bodacious.” (Chantelle Love, 00:14)
  • Laid off after long tenure, no personal brand, limited external network.
• Core Expertise:
  • Focus on employee engagement (top 5% in Gallup rankings), personal branding, and speaking at major organizations (Disney, AWS, etc.).
  • "Companies bring me in to speak on manager effectiveness, AI fluency, and to run my enterprise personal brand lab.” (01:42)

2. The Central Threat: Invisibility, Not AI

• “AI will not take your job, but invisibility will.” (Chantelle Love, 04:11)
• Research: Women lose over $782,000 due to the visibility gap over their careers (Stanford Business School).
• “Hard work alone won’t make you visible. You need a strategy for visibility with those who control power and influence.” (04:18)

3. Top Five Steps to ‘Promote Your Damn Self’

1. Be Proactive, Not Perfect

• “Start! Don’t worry about perfection.” (06:42)
• Progress, not perfection—posting online or simply sharing wins with your boss is a vital start.

2. Document Your Impact

• “Quantify everything: revenue saved, generated, time saved.” (07:49)
• Keep a weekly ‘win list.’ "You’ll have 52 wins for interviews, reviews, or pitches." (08:40)

3. Connect Before You Need It

• “Build networks now, not when desperate.” (09:48)
• Value in connection can be an introduction, sharing resources, or ideas—not always a direct quid pro quo.

4. Tell Stories, Not Stats

• “Stats impress, stories stick and sell.” (11:37)
• “It’s okay to share mistakes and what you learned—people relate to experience more than titles.” (11:37)

5. Repeat Yourself Relentlessly

• “Be so bored of your own story you think you’re repeating yourself too much—algorithms guarantee most people haven’t heard it yet.” (13:09)
• Leverage repetition in one-on-ones and public forums to cement your narrative in others’ minds.

Memorable Quote:
“Your voice and your value and your visibility is actually currency.” (Chantelle Love, 03:24)

4. Strategic Career Advancement and Personal Brand Audits

• Treat Your Job as Your Investor:
  • “Your job isn’t your family—it’s your first investor.” (16:02)
  • Seek skills and opportunities that grow you beyond your current role.
• Agreement Before the Project:
  • “Before I agree to a stretch project, we define what promotion looks like, how we’ll check in, and how success is quantified—all in writing.” (18:09)
• Don’t Wait to Build a Brand:
  • “Don’t wait until you’re overlooked or laid off to build your brand.” (16:50)
• Audit Your Brand:
  • Three-level “ask” campaign: peer, manager, senior leader. Compare perceptions to identify your reputation gap (21:00).
  • “Set up a 15-minute coffee chat and ask: ‘What unique value do I bring to the organization?’” (20:59)

5. Getting Honest Feedback in a Masked Workplace

• Navigating Masked Feedback:
  • “If feedback feels generic or fake, press: ‘Can you help me understand how you came to that conclusion? Can you give examples?’” (26:38)
  • Pre-empt meetings with agenda and specific feedback questions.
  • Document everything, especially if someone controls your advancement (27:31)
• Emotional Intelligence:
  • “One of the Four Agreements is don’t take anything personally—the people at work know you only in that context.” (24:09)
• Leveraging AI:
  • Use ChatGPT as a ‘career coach’ to process and respond to feedback. (25:01)

6. Building a Thought Leadership Platform: Publishing a Book

• Self-Publishing for Ownership:
  • “I chose self-publishing so I fully own my IP and royalties; I’m not leasing out my brilliance.” (29:11)
  • “If you use Amazon’s free ISBN, you’re locked into selling only on Amazon.” (29:34)
  • Buying your ISBN ($150) = true publishing control.
• Turning a Book into an Asset:
  • “My book is my best business card—it works for me when I’m sleeping.” (32:08)
  • Bulk sales to organizations, not just individuals.
• Mistakes and Lessons:
  • Biggest mistake: Not realizing marketing is harder than writing. “Marketing starts before the launch and is ongoing.” (35:20)

7. Book Marketing Strategies

• Advance Reviews/Community Engagement:
  • Gather a pre-launch community for feedback and endorsements. (38:07)
• Solve a Real Problem:
  • Position the book as a solution for organizations and affinity groups.
• Give Away the Best Chapter:
  • “I give away my best chapter—how to monetize your expertise—for free. That creates demand for the whole book.” (38:47)
• Realistic Numbers:
  • “Most books sell fewer than 1,000 copies. In my first year, I sold 4,500 by bulk sales, not relying on social media alone.” (40:10)

8. Career Portfolio and Multiple Revenue Streams

• Portfolio Professionalism:
  • Chantelle runs a speaking/writing company and a real estate business.
• Transparent Revenue Growth:
  • Year 1: $24,000
  • Year 2: $77,000 (bulk book sales, smarter positioning) (43:51)
• Advice for Aspiring Speakers:
  • “Apply to call-for-speakers events—didn’t work for me.”
  • “Leverage your existing industry. Speak at industry events for free at first, get recordings, build a reel.” (44:55)
  • Use women’s/industry networks for warm introductions and referrals.

9. Launching a Podcast

• Upcoming Show:
  • “I Promoted My Damn Self” podcast will feature reader success stories and amplify the book’s impact. (46:32)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Invisibility:
  • “AI will not take your job, but invisibility will.” (04:11)
• On Building Your Value:
  • “You wouldn’t launch a startup then wait until you’re broke to find funding—but that’s what people do with their careers.” (16:58)
• On Feedback:
  • “Don’t take anything personally. Your colleagues only know the ‘at work’ version of you.” (24:09)
• On Ownership:
  • “Too many people lease out their brilliance. I chose ownership intentionally.” (29:20)
• On Book as Business Tool:
  • “My book is the only business card people pay for that they never throw away.” (34:38)
• On Speaking:
  • “Most speaking gigs came from people who saw me in communities or organizations, not cold applications.” (44:56)

Important Timestamps

• 00:00-01:40 — Chantelle’s introduction, personal journey, and focus on personal branding.
• 03:03-05:41 — The real danger: invisibility, not AI; strategies for building visibility.
• 06:42-14:27 — Step-by-step guide: The Top 5 Ways to Promote Yourself.
• 16:01-20:09 — Strategic self-advocacy: owning your career journey, and building a personal brand before a crisis hits.
• 20:59-26:38 — How to audit your brand; getting real and unvarnished feedback.
• 29:11-38:07 — Self-publishing: Ownership, royalties, and turning your expertise into an asset.
• 38:47-40:12 — Marketing a book: strategies that work, stats about book sales, and aligning book value with organizational pain points.
• 43:51-44:55 — Building a six-figure side business, leveraging speaking, and best practices for landing gigs.
• 46:32 — Announcing the new podcast, “I Promoted My Damn Self.”

Episode Takeaways

• Visibility is your survival strategy in the AI era.
• Quantify, document, and repeatedly communicate your wins.
• Build relationships and networks before you need them.
• Own your intellectual property—it’s leverage for future growth.
• Book marketing is about connection, community, and solving real problems—social media alone isn’t enough.
• Proactive self-advocacy and negotiation are non-negotiable if you want to move into the top 5%.
• Strategic feedback gathering is key to continuous personal brand improvement.
• Monetize your expertise creatively—speaking, writing, coaching, all feed the same brand ecosystem.

For More:

• Check out Chantelle Love’s book "Promote Your Damn Self" and the “Enterprise Personal Brand Lab” mini-course.
• Keep an eye out for her upcoming podcast spotlighting audience impact stories.

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